It seems to have worked seamlessly for the city.
Starting as early as next week, the Culver City Unified School District will find out whether the concept of an interim boss will also suit its needs.
The CCUSD School Board plans to begin interviewing candidates Monday, June 21 in an effort to find a temporary stop-gap as interim superintendent for the next 4 to 6 months while the district continues its search for a full-time replacement for Dr. Myrna Rivera Coté. Coté revealed a little more than two weeks ago that she is leaving the district effective July 1 to take over as superintendent of the El Rancho Unified School District in Pico Rivera.
If all goes according to plan, the CCUSD board could extend a job offer to a candidate for the interim post as soon as Tuesday, June 22.
“We absolutely need somebody to captain the ship while we’re looking for a full-time person,” said CCUSD board member Kathy Paspalis. “We can’t just have it (the district) wandering adrift.
“It’s a standard procedure for hiring an executive. You don’t just leave the office empty while you’re searching for someone. There’s too many decisions that have to be made.”
The city of Culver City took the same approach earlier this year when former City Manager Mark Scott announced he was leaving after less than a year on the job. In came P. Lamont Ewell, a former city manager in Santa Monica, San Diego and Durham, N.C., who has earned rave reviews while guiding the city through its fiscal year budgeting process during what is supposed to be a four-month term of employment.
The same timeline may hold true for CCUSD, which believes its reputation as one of the top-performing school districts in Southern California should make for a deep application pool from which to choose when it does ultimately fill the superintendent opening on a full-time basis.
“What better job is there than being the superintendent of Culver City Unified School District?” said CCUSD school board member Scott Zeidman. “The community is in back of the schools. The teachers are there. Everyone’s joined together. For the full-time position it should be a great asset to us.”
The lone drawback for anyone looking to become the top educator in “The Heart of Screenland” may be money. Coté admits one of the reasons she is leaving for El Rancho is a better compensation package, and has gone on record that she was one of the lowest-paid superintendents in Los Angeles County.
“I’d be surprised if we offer top dollar. We just don’t have that kind of money,” Zeidman said. “If the candidate is coming for just the extra 30 or 40 thousand dollars, that’s probably not the candidate we want. …
“I’m happy to be able to make this decision. I think it’s going to be good for the district to bring in somebody who’s excited about working here.”
Editor Scott Tittrington can be reached at (310) 437-4401 ext. 210 or editor@culvercitynews.org.
